Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has been helped by circumstances for his place in England's provisional Euro 2016 squad, according to the national under-21 manager Gareth Southgate.
Rashford, 18, has had an unexpected elevation to the United first-team setup since making his debut in February and netting four goals in his first two matches.
Despite his rise, which included a brace against Arsenal on his Premier League debut, Rashford was not named in England's U21 squad in March in an effort to avoid rushing his development at international level.
Southgate said at the time: "It was a bit early for him exposure-wise to be with the U21s."
However, the striker went on to score the only goal of the game for United against Manchester City in a crucial derby on March 20 and has struck twice more since then.
England senior boss Roy Hodgson on Monday named him in a 26-man provisional squad for May's friendly matches against Turkey, Australia and Portugal, which will be trimmed by three ahead of next month's European Championship.
After the announcement, Southgate said: "What's clear over the last three years is you see how quickly players can progress. Dele [Alli] has had a similar rise. There's always that balance between wanting to see if this pattern is going to keep going which, you've got to say with Marcus, it has this season.
"He's still performing well in Premier League games. I guess if the situation with Danny Welbeck hadn't happened, maybe it looks different. But maybe if James Wilson and Ashley Fletcher hadn't been on loan from United, maybe Marcus doesn't get a game in their first team. The way that opportunity comes can be really random. Then it's about players seizing that opportunity.
"You never want to hold players back but by the same token we felt March was a good moment to say, 'He's had a lot of games in a very short space of time, let's see how things develop.'"
Southgate -- who is preparing for the Toulon tournament, an invitational u20 competition -- would not have been able to call up Rashford in any case, because of United's trip to Wembley on Saturday to face Crystal Palace.
The former Middlesbrough and Aston Villa manager said: "We couldn't take him anyway this time because of the FA Cup final. I think it's a really good chance for Roy to have a look and see how he fits into everything and they will go from there."